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ABS accused of skewing suicide data

Some of the nation's top mental health experts have accused the Australia Bureau of Statistics of dishonesty and spin in its reporting of national suicide rates.

Mental health is an increasingly expensive part of public medicine, and suicide prevention is at the sharp end of mental health services.

The ABS is reporting a 17 per cent fall in suicides over the past decade, from 12.7 deaths per 100,000 people in 2001 to 10.5 in 2010.

But leading experts in mental health say the ABS has presented a misleading impression that Australia's suicide rate is falling.

Professor Ian Hickey from the Brain and Mind Research Institute at Sydney University says suicide is grossly under-reported in many states, which distorts the figures.

"We need honest, straightforward reporting of the figures," he said.

"In the late 1990s and through the early part of this decade, suicide rates probably were higher and they were falling during that period.

You don't need spin. You don't need a Pollyanna approach. You need accurate reporting in order that there can be the appropriate public policy responses, politicians can make investments, health services can respond, communities can put together supportive action that's required to reduce suicide.

Professor Ian Hickey

"But if you go from 2002 onwards they appeared to fall a bit further and then to increase again since 2005.

"I think the most likely thing is that they haven't changed at all over the last decade.

"Or if anything, there's a trend towards the number increasing at the moment."

But he says there are problems with collecting accurate data.

"Coroner practices are different in each state. The timing of reporting is different. And the final conclusion of cases is different. So we haven't had a well-coordinated, national approach," he said.

And it is particularly complicated in New South Wales, where he says suicide is under-reported.

"People will be very surprised I think to hear that. But many situations with families and culturally sensitive situations, young people, the coroner and particularly those that are affected are very reluctant to come to the conclusion, even when it's fairly obvious that there has been an actual suicide," he said.

Professor Hickey says mental health should be treated no differently from other areas of community health.

"You need accurate reporting in order that there can be the appropriate public policy responses, politicians can make investments, health services can respond, communities can put together supportive action that's required to reduce suicide."

But James Hinkins from the Bureau of Statistics is standing by the data.

"We have a very robust cause of death collection. And while there may be challenges in terms of determining causes of death, especially suicide deaths, we have a very consistent process to ensure that we can capture the coroner's findings when they're made," he said.

"And we also have the ability where someone dies and it's a potential suicide, to look at the coroner's database and be able to look for additional evidence that might support a finding of suicide or a code of suicide to be applied."